Is Trump Economically Illiterate ?

Khandro | 07:50 Tue 08th Apr 2025 | News

51 Answers

Andrew Neil thinks so and has some interesting points to substantiate it;

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newmodarmy

Cassa, America has been doing very well in terms of per capita income or GDP- far better than China, EU, UK, Australia, Canada. Yes it wants to do even better. But if he wants a better deal he should negotiate trade deals like has always been done in the past and every other country does. He's going about it like a bull in a China shop.

cassa333

There's nothing like being given the short end of the stick to make you take action that will get the attention of those that think you are a their friend but just want to live off your coat tails.

He is a disrupter for sure. But TBH the status quo was never going to be easy to push back against.

When you walk into a room full of your friends knowing they are taking you for a ride, eventually you stop being the purse for everyone.

And that time has come. Just because the US appears to have done well from the lopsided and unequal trade deals doesn't make them right. It doesn't justify being ripped off by your friends.

As a simple analogy try this. You live in a street where you mostly get on with your neighbours. Some are ***. Some a great friends. Some are just there on the street. Every year you have whole street events. Everyone is invited and everyone contributes. Every year it's a grand affair. Everyone has input as to what they want and by and large that happens. Someone workes out how much each household contributes. For some reason you pay the lions share. Then you find out your neighbours are running a line to your electricity and you are paying for that. Two other neighbours are tapping into your water meter and three or four at using your WiFi, Netfilix and Disney accounts.

What do you do? Let them live off you or snip the wires and change your password or just let them carry on.

But the fact the vast majority are coming to the table to renegotiate trade deals speaks volumes. It says that they knew they were living large on the backs of the US.

Now if we had a government worth their pay packet they would go in with the idea of getting the best deal for us. Not any deal at any price as they would with the EU but a good deal that works for both countries.

But at the end of the day Trump the disruptor will shake things up and make people realise being complacent and just accepting anything thrown at you because it might be different or hard for a while is self defeating.

Ellipsis

> Then you find out your neighbours are running a line to your electricity and you are paying for that. Two other neighbours are tapping into your water meter and three or four at using your WiFi, Netfilix and Disney accounts.

That's stealing. If you think that the UK has been stealing from the USA, therefore that we are, in your words, ***, then we have a bigger problem than just tariffs. And the same for every other country in the world, apart from Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Cuba! That is not what has been going on, and characterising it in that way is economically illiterate.

Old_Geezer

If the US was as hard done by as Trump and his administration make out then their average US citizen wouldn't have the money to buy & thus pull in all the imports. Clearly the US have plenty of advantages which makes them wealthy, but those aren't cherry picked to support their position.

These threats and economic attacks by them are purely the result of a gambler with a wild theory opting to make risky bets with not only their nation's economic prosperity but the whole world's. That's the problem when someone with an ego as big as their nation gets into power.

The rest of the world need to make the best of the situation for the duration; but while trying to come to an agreement with the US, realise that, more important is that there are less volatile nations to trade with & concentrate on, and to ensure each individual nation is not depending on another for anything vital, should push come to shove. A desire for globalisation for efficiency reasons needs to be balanced with sufficient self reliance for necessities. (Besides, globalisation passes power from accountable government to unaccountable global merchants. Not a sensible position.)

(Speaking of self sufficiency and not being reliant on others, after the idiotic privatisation of our steel industry by a dodgy past PM, how come the present government is now only "considering" a "temporary" nationalisation to help sort the present UK steel crisis ? And how long are they going to take "considering" the issue ? Until the steel plants have all closed maybe ?)

newmodarmy

cassa regurgitates the same sort of nonsense Trump spouts. USA are not being ripped off or stolen from. They have done rather well economically from the old arrangements- far better than EU, UK, Australia etc.

History shows that free trade (or close to it) is good for all parties, It's not a zero sum game. Trump is businessman. He is not an economist. Everyone, apart from those who believe every lie and piece of nonsense he comes up with, can see his policy is not going to end well.

Khandro

Question Author

I've just watched an extraordinary live display of Trump's enormous arrogance & hubris. His latest '30 day pause' on tariffs he says demonstrates how everything is going to his plan !!

I'm minded of that Flanagan & Allen prelude to Dad's Army: 'Who do you think You're Kidding Mr [Donald] ?'

I fear this is all going to end in tears.

tomus42

He's playing 5d chess while the rest of the world is playing checkers. The whole thing of looking and acting like a reckless amoral buffoon is all part of the plan.

It's the art of the deal.

Khandro

Question Author

tomus: This is not 5d chess, this is not even 2d chess; it’s Trussonomics. The markets did what no one in America could and forced him to back down. This is utter humiliation for Trump and the US .

bhg481

I wonder how many shares Trump bought whilst the price was low, knowing that the price would rise when he delayed the tariffs, at which point he can sell them. Not in his own name, of course but some agency.